Book reviews

Check out the latest reviews of University of Minnesota Press books.
Shelf Awareness features The Steger Homestead Kitchen
Whether readers are curious about cooking chicken or corn over an open fire, searching for new bread recipes or in need of ideas to feed a crowd, there is something for everyone across a variety of tastes and dietary requirements.
The Minnesota Daily: UMN faculty, alum among Minnesota Book Awards finalists
Hanson is a storyteller, writer and activist who earned her Ph.D. in educational policy and administration from the University, with a focus on cross-cultural education. Born in the headwaters of the Mississippi River, Hanson is passionate about ecological justice and effective responses to climate trauma.
NPR: Here's the story behind Black History Month — and why it's celebrated in February
"There is no American history without African American history," said Sara Clarke Kaplan, executive director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, D.C. The Black experience, she said, is embedded in "everything we think of as 'American history.' "
Electronic Green Journal: Drawing the Sea Near
The case study captures the larger ideological problem—and subsequent shift—of environmental centered organizations. Their agendas have shifted from manufacturing distance between human activities and the natural ‘other’ that we are assumed to be apart from, to intentionally crafting nearness. In using a highly detailed case study to capture this shift, Claus fulfills an important need of environmental literature: turning the lens to conservation efforts.
Colors of Influence: "Ideal intellectual conditions to revisit [Moreton-Robinson's] work"
Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s seminal work on Indigenous feminism, “Talkin’ Up to the White Woman,” is an indispensable guide to understanding how intersectional forms of oppression uphold colonial structures in modern Australia.
Star Tribune: Finalists announced for Minnesota Book Awards
Two University of Minnesota Press books are finalists for Minnesota Book Awards.
Tribal College: The Best Native Books of 2021
Last year witnessed a high-water mark for Native literature. Not only did a wealth of Indigenous texts flood the market, but the democratization of virtual platforms meant that one could stream author events from every corner of Turtle Island. With a few clicks of a mouse, book lovers were able to join their favorite authors’ tours or drop in to hear a new voice.
Vanity Fair: "[Meredith Willson's memoir] is my bible"
In February 2020, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, a two-time Tony Award winner, began work on a splashy Broadway revival of The Music Man. Produced by Scott Rudin, then Broadway’s most powerful and prolific impresario, and directed by Jerry Zaks, the production was shaping up to be the event of the fall theater season. When tickets went on sale, the advance soared to $30 million.
Hennepin County Library: What We Loved in 2021
Staff recommend their favorite adult nonfiction books that they read this year.
Minnesota Reformer: A celebrated Minnesota teacher on raising his nonbinary child
I think people like that it’s not a how-to book about raising nonbinary kids. I recognize that Ollie doesn’t just sit around being nonbinary all day — that’s not all they do. The book includes stories about all different aspects of their childhood and what it’s meant raising them.
New Books in Political Science interview with Alexandra Cosmia Budabin and Lisa Ann Richey
Are celebrities “disruptors” who revitalize the development field, or are they just charismatic ambassadors for big business? In Batman Saves the Congo: How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development (University of Minnesota Press, 2021) the authors argue that celebrities play both roles, and that understanding why and how yields insight into the realities of neoliberal development.
Andrew Jones's Circuit Listening reviewed in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture
Jones’s book deserves to be read widely. It is a book that presents an important and urgent intervention in the Euro- and Anglo-centric histories of popular music that dominate the field. At a time when the trope of the “rise of China” is almost omnipresent, this book shows how the Chinese-speaking world has always already been part and parcel of the world of popular music. Review by Jeroen de Kloet.
The Conversation: Environmental disasters are fuelling migration
In her book The Death of Asylum: Hidden Geographies of the Enforcement Archipelago, Alison Mountz, a geographer at Wilfrid Laurier University, describes the steady development of asylum processing in places far away from physical borders, such as Australia’s offshore processing camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Minnesota Monthly: The Lessons Jessie Diggins Learned
After a triumphant showing in 2018, the Minnesota native will return for more Olympic gold this year—without sacrificing balance.
Jacobin: Workers Are Dying Because Amazon Treats Human Beings as Disposable
Pioneer Press Literary Pick of the Week: Making Minnesota series launches with 'We Are Meant to Rise'
Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, who are writers, co-editors of the anthology and long-time activists in promotion of diversity, will be joined by contributors for a live panel discussion via Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13.
Pioneer Press highlights four University of Minnesota Press books.
Twin Cities Pioneer Press highlights four University of Minnesota Press books.
Public Books: In Praise of Search Tools
Deirdre Lynch reviews Craig Robertson, The Filing Cabinet, in Public Books.
Wisconsin Public Radio: New book 'Winter's Children' details skiing tradition
Wisconsin and Minnesota have a storied tradition in cross-country skiing. From the Berkie to the Strand Ski Company in New Richland. We talk with the author of a new book, “Winter’s Children,” about the origins of Nordic skiing and how it flourished in America.
Mother Earth News: Naturally Sweet Maple Scone Recipe
Sweet Maple Scone recipe excerpted from Sweet Nature: A Cook’s Guide to Using Honey and Maple Syrup by Beth Dooley and Mette Nielsen.
New Yorker: Money in the Metaverse
Anna Wiener discusses Alenda Chang and Nick Dyer-Witheford in the New Yorker.
Gary Goodman on the Matt McNeil Show
Gary Goodman discusses The Last Bookseller with Matt McNeil on AM950.
ArtZany Radio Interview with Margi Preus
Margi Preus discusses the final Enchantment Lake mystery book, The Silver Box, on KYMN Radio's ArtZany.
Journal of Peace Research: "A timely contribution to the on-going nuclear debate"
PRIO Book Notes: Schwab certainly manages to make her readers acutely aware of the relevance of the legacies of the Manhattan Project in the early twenty-first century.
Food Tank: 19 Cookbooks for Food Justice and Sustainability
Beth Dooley's The Perennial Kitchen in Food Tank.
High Country News: How do you make a movie about a hyperobject?
The film ‘Don’t Look Up’ turns climate change into an allegorical comet.
Minnesota Spokesman Recorder: "The wealth of stories, poetry, and perspectives leaves me filled with gratitude"
In “We Are Meant to Rise,” Minnesota indigenous writers and writers of color reflect on and react to the year 2020: the year that began the COVID pandemic, a year ripped apart by the brutal police murder of George Floyd, a year of isolation and uprising.
ABC Newspapers Op-ed: "The secret to coping is to avoid helplessness"
Director of the Center for School Change Joe Nathan finds inspiration from Mindy Greiling.
School Library Journal: 21 Nonfiction Picture Books
A fascinating look at a truly weird way of promulgating your species. 
SF Chronicle: Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens help writer assume the 'Ecosexual Position'
Visiting Holly Park in San Francisco with Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens one day this fall wasn’t just an afternoon walk; it was fulfilling the prescription for my first ecosexual experience.

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